Yeah. My wife and I have had the 'pleasure' of having Metallica's lawyers jump on us. Our crime? My wife made a set of FREE button sets that you could use online. They were pink. They were shiny. She called them "Rose Metallica".

We ended up renaming the set "Loser 80s Hair Band". No lawyers have called us about it since then.

Rick Rubin is producing and has been very firm with them as far as direction. It's going to be closer to "Master of Puppets" than anything they did in the 90's.

I hope that turns out to be true. I agree about Rob Trujillo, he is a helluva bassist when he's allowed to be. I loved him with both Infectious Grooves and Suicidal Tendencies. My concern is that, as far as the whole "closer to MoP than anything they did in the 90s" thing, that's what they said about St. Anger, and we all know how far off the mark that turned out to be. On the other hand, I like Rick Rubin, and if they're working with him ... and listening to him (that's the big thing) ... it's a good sign.

Let's just hope they really have learned their lesson, really have decided to turn back to their old fanbase, and that this isn't just another publicity stunt. When they toured ahead of St. Anger, doing nothing but their 80s material, I got my hopes up, only to have them shattered when the cd came out. Let's pray this isn't a repeat.

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"Human tales? But human don't have tails, they have big, big bottoms that they wear with bad shorts, and walk around going, 'Hi, Helen!'" -- Batty (Robin Williams), in Fern Gully

Metallica really started to go downhill after Cliff died. And Justice for All was the last decent album this band had before they sold out and let Lars take over.

Personally, I'd name "Load" as the album that began to herald a serious decline. The Black album was a big departure in sound and style, but it was still a pretty decent and solid album. That was their last good album, in my book.

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"Human tales? But human don't have tails, they have big, big bottoms that they wear with bad shorts, and walk around going, 'Hi, Helen!'" -- Batty (Robin Williams), in Fern Gully

Metallica really started to go downhill after Cliff died. And Justice for All was the last decent album this band had before they sold out and let Lars take over.

Thank god someone has some sense in this thread. Anybody that thinks this album is going to be remotely as good as Master of Puppets is out of their mind. Robert Trujillo is a hell of a bass player, but Metallica was Metallica because of Cliff's composition. I am still haunted by the memories of "the black album." First time I heard Enter Sandman, I knew Metallica had died.

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“I get a kick out of being an outsider constantly. It allows me to be creative. I don't like anything in the mainstream and they don't like me.”
-Bill Hicks, another dead hero